The US Mine Safety and Health Administration visited nine coal mines and five metal/nonmetal operations in the US during August, issued 213 citations as well as 23 orders and one safeguard.

By far the most alarming was the agency’s August 1 visit to JJ&E Coal’s Horse Creek Mine No. 2 in McDowell County, West Virginia, where officials inspected one producing section, two coal conveyor belts and the mine’s surface property along with every air course, escapeway and beltline.

MSHA said the surprise inspection resulted in eight unwarrantable failure orders, one task training order, one imminent danger order and 36 104(a) citations.

“At the time of the inspection, the day shift production crew was underground on the working section,” inspectors noted.

“Because the maintenance crew did not work the previous shift, all conditions observed were as the previous day-shift production crew had left them and after preshift examinations were made.”

Specifically, MSHA found loose coal and coal fines accumulations as deep as 30 inches (762mm) along the entire length of the two conveyer belts measuring 350 feet (107m) and 750ft long, respectively.

Bottom belt rollers on both conveyors also turned in these accumulations up to six inches deep, a potential fire hazard.

Inspectors said the mine superintendent and mine manager had noted the conditions in pre-shift and on-shift examinations daily for almost a week. A notation on July 27 indicated each belt needed additional cleaning and “work in progress”

However, MSHA said no evidence was found that any work had been done to clean the belts.

JJ&E was also cited for violating roof support, ventilation, electrical and surface regulations.

“Inspectors observed roof bolting machine operators installing roof bolts with no ventilation curtain installed [and] when tested with chemical smoke, there was no air movement detected,” inspectors reported.

“MSHA issued an imminent danger order to JJ&E based on its practice[s] of conducting inadequate mine examinations, failure to provide adequate compliance oversight, failure to comply with approved ventilation and roof control plans, recurring hazardous conditions and the number of citations and orders that were issued in the past year and remained outstanding at the time of this impact inspection.”

The mine was permitted to resume mining on August 13, when all of the citations and orders from its impact inspection were terminated and all cited conditions were corrected.

The operator has also since developed and implemented a compliance plan and made improvements to its roof control and ventilation plans.

This was the second impact inspection at this mine, MSHA noted.

“The types and seriousness of the conditions found at this mine put miners at risk of great harm,” assistant secretary of labor for mine safety and health Joseph Main said.

“They cannot and will not be tolerated.”

The agency’s special impact inspections began in April 2010 following an explosion at the Upper Big Branch mine in West Virginia in which 29 workers were killed.

The push involved mines that warranted increased attention and enforcement by the agency due to a poor compliance history or particular compliance concerns.

These included high numbers of violations or closure orders; indications of operator tactics, such as advance notification of inspections that prevented inspectors from observing violations; frequent hazard complaints or hotline calls; plan compliance issues; inadequate workplace examinations; a high number of accidents, injuries or illnesses; fatalities; and adverse conditions such as increased methane liberation, faulty roof conditions and inadequate ventilation.

Since April 2010, MSHA has conducted 656 impact inspections and issued 11,002 citations, 1019 orders and 46 safeguards.